The struggles of India's very own Jerry Maguires

Sportsmarketing agencies are at a nascent stage in India, yet their lives are every bit as dramatic as that of Tom Cruise’s eponymous character in Jerry Maguire (an American romantic comedy on the life of a sports agent, for the uninitiated). The challenges are slightly different though. You don’t hear them yelling ‘SHOW ME THE MONEY’ to someone on the other end of the phone call. “You have to be aggressive but in a controlled manner,” says Ramakrishnan R, co-founder of Baseline Ventures (representing PV Sindhu, Srikanth Kidambi, Ravindra Jadeja). You have to respect the clients because ultimately they’re driven by processes. As an agent, you have to fight to win the athlete’s trust. “Just a few years ago, athletes were dependent on their brothers and uncles for brand-related decision-making. So many of them are from small towns and weren’t comfortable with English. We had to convince them we weren’t sharks after their money,” says Indranil Das Blah, founding partner & COO, KWAN Entertainment (represents Sania Mirza, Abhinav Bindra, Dipika Pallikal, Dinesh Karthik, Irfan and Yusuf Pathan).